Promo Video Client Feedback

Music Video Evaluation

For this unit, we were tasked with creating our own music video for a song of our choice. My chosen song was ‘Always’ by the artist: ‘Panama’, as I personally enjoy the song, and the lyrics also connected to my initial idea for the video. As shown on my storyboard, my first idea was to create a narrative style music video, following a boy as he reminisces about his relationship and times with friends; the video would have a non-linear narrative throughout, jumping between past and present, whilst showing the past through a point-of-view shot for our protagonist. Unfortunately, a couple of my friends were unavailable to film due to their college and work schedules, and I was not able to get a decent amount of footage to make this part of the video. In order to accommodate for this, I got more footage revolving around the relationship aspect, and decided to base the video entirely on this theme, as it was simpler to film.

When planning my shoots, I decided to film in three unique locations; this is because I wanted to show three different occasions in the past, to correlate with the three choruses of the song. The first shoot took place on the beach in Lanzarote, as beaches are usually associated with happy memories, and I thought this would be a good location to represent that. With this shoot, I had to be mindful that we were in a busy public location, I kept the equipment out of the path of people to limit the potential of the setup being a safety hazard. I also kept the camera out of the sand at all times to avoid any damage. The second shoot took place at Coombe Abbey; this is because it is an aesthetically pleasing location that provides contrast from the location of the beach. The country park is also easily accessible via car and so was ideal. As this location is also a public place, I kept the equipment out of the way to avoid damage. For my third shoot, I planned to film in an urban setting - most likely Birmingham, again to contrast against the previous two locations. However, on the day I had planned to shoot, the weather was poor, meaning I couldn’t record. To overcome this, I did another shoot in Coombe Abbey to get enough footage, but also slightly changed the course of my narrative to cater to the change. For my fourth shoot, I just filmed in my own house, this was generally a low risk environment, apart from one shot requiring filming around stairs, with which I was careful and aware of my surroundings.

   Regarding the production itself, I decided to film the ‘present’ segment of the video from a 3rd person perspective, so the audience is looking at the protagonist from an outside perspective. This was to show clearly who the protagonist of the video was, and who’s point of view the audience will witness in other parts of the video. When filming this, I came across the issue of underexposure, due to the lighting being quite dim indoors, in an effort to keep camera settings the same, I tried to allow more light in by opening windows and doors, this worked to an extent, as it allowed more light into the room, however it resulted in some over-exposed areas in some of the shot. To avoid this in the future I would perhaps use a different lens which allowed for a lower aperture setting. For the ‘past’ segments of the video, I shot using a point-of-view angle throughout. This was a to emphasise the narrative of my music video, and also helped to highlight that the protagonist is looking back over past memories. A disadvantage I came across during filming this is that the camera is quite cumbersome when trying to film from this particular perspective, as it restricts your view, therefore becoming a safety risk. In order to overcome this, I ensured that the path was clear ahead of me to limit the chance of tripping over. Also, some shots came out quite shaky, due to the camera being handheld; in the future, it would be wise to use a GoPro for the P.O.V shots as it would limit the camera shake, but also make the shot seem more realistic. 

Before beginning the editing process, I labelled the names of the clips in the folder, so I knew what the clips were of. I also compiled all of my footage into location categories, such as Coombe Abbey, Lanzarote, etc. This helped make the overall editing process more efficient, as I was able access the footage easily, without having to search for each clip.

When editing my video, I tried to cut to the beat of the song to the best of my ability, this is to make the video seem more professional and polished, and also to compliment the music. During the P.O.V instances, I also added overlay effects onto the footage to highlight that it is taking place in the past. I downloaded a film grain overlay from the internet, which added over the footage, and also tried to added a sepia-type filter in addition. I chose to do this so the audience will be able to distinguish between the past and present instances. Furthermore, during the transitions, I added a 'Gaussian Blur' effect, combined with a white colour matte, in order to make the transition seem almost dreamlike. An issue I came across during this process is that the sepia filter diminished the effect of the blur, making it less intense for some reason, despite changing the opacity of the layer. 

I decided to alternate between the past and present at the points where the song switches from verse to chorus. This was to give the video a strong feel, as the editing and narrative will compliment the song structure. The song I chose was quite a long track, and I found it difficult to piece together enough footage whilst avoiding a repetitive feel. As a solution, I decided to cut the song shorter, this is because the last minute or so is purely instrumental and quite repetitive, therefore I cut a section out of the middle, and combined the remaining pieces of the song to the exact beat, to make sure that the change isn't noticeable. I cut the song down to an appropriate length for my narrative to come to an end, but also made sure the song lasted around three minutes, a common convention of contemporary songs. 

Music Video Final Cut

Promotional Video - Legal Forms

Below are a number of forms we had our interviewees sign to show that we had their permission to be involved in the video.

Promo Video Editing

When editing the promo video, I placed all the clips I would use in to bins in order to organise them and put them into categories where they were easy to find; I also overlaid clips with transitions in order to make the clips transition more smoothly. With the audio, I lowered the volume of the backing music during the interviews so the audience can hear the dialogue more. 

HNC Promo Video Evaluation

During this unit, I decided that I would not be able to meet the deadline in the unit with the client's availability, this was due to his busy working schedule; and after discussion, we came to a mutual agreement that it would be best to discontinue the process. In order to accommodate for this, I decided to work with Aj, who was in the same situation. We decided to create a promotional video for the HNC course at KEC, with our client being Chris - the head of the Creative Arts department. In our research we analysed various existing promotional videos, and decided to create an informative video, with student and teacher interviews talking about the HNC.

When planning the promotional video, we watched existing college promotional videos for inspiration, and to understand the conventions of these videos, in order to be able to implement them into our promotional video. We drew up a basic plan and layout for our video, and organised an initial meeting with our client to discuss our plan. This meeting was beneficial for us as we prepared a clear powerpoint presentation containing our ideas, and the client also provided us with some insight as to how he would like the video to turn out, by giving us ideas of shots and interviews. After this, we contacted those who we would have liked to be in the video, mainly students and teachers, however this didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked, as some students were not able to spare any time on such short notice. In the future, to improve on this, we would ideally have more time to shoot, and therefore be more flexible with our availability to shoot.

During the production of our video, we managed to record most of the content we needed, we decided to capture footage in locations related to creative arts, in order to showcase what the department has to offer for students; though we did not manage to record  everything our client suggested, due to the reliability and availability of ex-students. We accommodated for this by asking the same questions to the students we did interview, in order to still get the information we needed. We also had some issues with how some of the clips turned out, particularly with the interviews. We had issues with the sound of the footage recorded in the studio, the sound is echoey and because the interviewees were sitting quite far from the camera, the speech was quiet. In order to correct this in the future, I would use a separate microphone to record the audio. Another issue we came across is the lighting in the HNC room, after scanning over the footage, we found that the lighting was underexposed and quite dim. To improve on this is the future, I would reshoot this footage perhaps in a different room, with more natural light, or even use some portable LED lights to create some artificial light. In the final cut of the video, we decided to only use one interview, involving Emily and Connie, this is because I believe their answers contained the right information about the HNC that we intended to capture and therefore didn't need to include any unnecessary footage. Additionally, the quality of some of the other interviews wasn't acceptable for the video and could not be used.

Regarding our target audience, when distributing our video, it would have been best to consider the most effective methods to appeal to our intended audience of students aged 17-19. this could have been achieved by creating a shorter version of our video, that would have been an acceptable length for publishing to social media sites such as Facebook or Instagram. This would have been beneficial for us as it would cater for our particular demographic, and therefore potentially receive a better response.

Overall, I am pleased with the final cut of our promotional video; I believe that we captured the essence of what HNC life is like within the college. This was achieved by maintaining an informal mode of address within the interviews, therefore keeping the responses natural. This was emphasised by the ‘unpolished’ feel of some of clips I used, as it added personality to the interviewees and represented the relationships and friendships formed in the HNC. An issue I came across in the post-production of the video is that the music for the video is quite loud in comparison to the audio of the interviews, despite altering the audio levels for the clips; it is quite difficult to hear at some points. In the future we could perhaps find some backing music that is quieter, or again use an external microphone to record the audio from the interview.

HNC Promotional Video

Film Studies - Mulvey Film

Contacting Current Students

We have asked some of our classmates within the HNC if they will be our interviewees to be included in the promotional video:

Responses so far:

Contacting Staff

We have contacted the members of staff involved in the HNC, asking if they would like to be involved with the promotional video, mainly with interviews and vox pops:

Meetings with the client

Client Meeting 1 - Planning

Our PowerPoint Presentation:

Client Meeting 2 - Initial Feedback

Communicating with New Client

This is our initial communication with our new client, discussing an appropriate time to meet in order to discuss a plan for the promotional video:

Bristol New Wave Film

Bristol Residential Plan

Bristol Planning 

Bristol Residential Brief:

As a group you will create a 3-minute promotional video to entice students, young people, and young professionals (16-35) to visit Bristol instead of the attractions of other big cities such as: Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool. The film will be fresh, vibrant, and highlight all Bristol has to offer be it culture, retail, or social. The video must not contain any copyright material and must be shot in full HD (1080p). (A final edit will be submitted by all students by Friday 27th October)

Itinerary for the journey: 

For transport to and from Bristol, we as a group, have chosen to take a megabus. This is because it is by far the cheapest option against driving or getting the train. On Monday 16th October, we will meet at Nuneaton train station and catch the 10:10am train to Birmingham New St. station - arriving at approximately 10:38. We will then get on the megabus to Bristol at 10:55am (approx. a 4min walk from station to bus stop) - arriving in Bristol at around 13:05pm - our hotel is a 10min walk away from our bus stop. In regards toggling back from Bristol, on Wednesday 18th October, we will get the 12:15pm megabus back to Birmingham, arriving back at around 14:35pm. Finally, we will catch the 14:52pm train back to Nuneaton, arriving back at 15:22pm. The price for the megaus there and back £12.80.

We will be staying in the Rock & Bowl Motel for our stay during the residential
(Link to website: http://www.thelanesbristol.co.uk/hostel/)

Filming Locations:

Locations near the hotel

The stars on the map indicate some of the locations where we will be getting footage. The group has been divided into four separate groups in order to be able to film footage at different landmarks across the city. We have done this because we only have the Tuesday to film, and therefore wouldn't be able to cover every site in a single group. The three locations my group is getting footage from are the: Docks (+ Thekla Venue); Arnolfini Art Gallery; and the Millennium Square. We chose these sites because they are close to our hotel, the closest is the docks, approximately a 13 minute walk away. Also, the sites are within walking distance of each other. 

Equipment List:

Cameras (x3 borrowed from college / x5 of our own)

Tripods (x3 borrowed from college / x2 of our own)

SD Card for each camera